On December 1 the ESBS Project organised the next Open Workshop No 8 titled “European Energy Policy Today: the EU and Non-EU Country Energy Strategies and Methodological Approaches” within a series of 3 Open Workshops concerning Energy Policy issues.

During the Workshop participants considered the main provisions of the existing energy policies of some EU member states and the Russian Federation. They considered and discussed the existing methodological approaches for development of not only strategy policy for a sector in general, but also for particular sub-sectors.

On 24 November an Open Workshop No 7 titled 'Energy Policy. Examples of energy strategies of individual countries' took place. During the Workshop the participants were informed about policies in the energy sector of the European Union and in particular of some of its member states. At the same time major elements of development of fuel and energy sub-sectors such as electricity, hydrocarbons industry, etc were discussed.

This seminar started a series of Open Workshops during which participants may get acquainted with experience of the leading EU countries in developing energy sector strategy documents.

On 17 November 2010 the Open Workshop No 6 ‘Adjustments to Energy Legislation. Near Future Legislative Needs in Ukraine. Part 2’ organized by the Project took place.

Experts from different institutions - mostly from legal fields – participated, including the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, the Ministry of Economy, NERC and NAER.

On 10 November 2010 the Open Workshop No 5 ‘Adjustments to Energy Legislation. Near Future Legislative Needs in Ukraine’ organized by the Project took place. Fifteen experts – mostly from legal fields – participated from different institutions, including the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, the Ministry of Economy, and NERC.

The Open Workshop No 4 focused on four main areas:

• Goals for any energy sector reform;

• Legislation that drives energy sector reform in the EU;

• Typical areas of national energy law and

• Assessment of the situation in Ukraine.

The Open Workshop No 3 titled “Monitoring as a Part of Cycle Management. Concluding Session” was held on 27 October 2010 and concluded one of thematic blocks for Open Workshops, organized by the Project.

At the workshop participants considered two main stages of developing of a Logic Framework Matrix, namely analysis and planning, and studied the main steps of Problem Tree and Objective Tree developing.

On 20 October 2010 the Open Workshop No 2 about ‘Monitoring as Part of Management’ took place at the premises of the ESBS Project. Experts of the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Fuel and Energy, ‘Ukrenergo’ were present together with other interested in the topic. This time the workshop was dedicated to the issue of designing and using the Logical Framework Approach as an important tool of project planning, management and monitoring. Participants of the workshop were proposed to develop their own logframe for a hypothetical project titled ‘Happy Marriage’. In the framework of this task the participants defined expected results and activities, which altogether should contribute to achievement of the project purpose and to the overall objective.

On 13 October the Project started a series of Open Workshops that will cover various topics in the framework of three major directions: (i) Monitoring as a part of Project Management; (ii) Energy Policy/Energy Strategy, EU-Ukraine contexts; (iii) Legal issues with regard to development needs of the Ukrainian Energy Sector.

The Open Workshop No 1 titled ‘Improving Effectiveness of Programme and Project Preparation and Implementation’ was dedicated to concepts of Project Cycle Management and Logical Framework Approach. Participants addressed main elements of a process of change that is core for every Project, Programme and Policy.